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Header Texts

Date & Comic	Header text	Explanation	Purpose
Find Archive (3074) 3074: Push Notifications	Today's comic was created with Kevin Controne, Max Goodhart, Patrick, Benjamin Staffin, Conor Stokes, and Amber.	This comic's header text gives credit to those who helped Randall create 2025's April Fools' Day comic. Each link takes you to the person's social media page, GitHub page, or personal website. At the time of writing (October 2025), this is the only comic to have a unique header text past comic #3000, meaning it's been over half a year since a comic has had a unique header.	Credits
2024-07-11 2957: A Crossword Puzzle	Today's comic accidentally inspired by this Buttersafe comic from 2011!	This comic's header mentions that it was 'accidentally inspired' by a Buttersafe comic. It is assumed, but not confirmed, that the custom text was on the front page until the next comic, 2958, was published. The header text makes it clear that not only is he a fan of Buttersafe (as shown in the Comics I enjoy section of [xkcd.com]), but he also did not know of the existence of this comic until after it was published. This is shown with the fact that it was not shown until the next day. This text is permanently shown with this comic. As a special situation, this header text did not replace the current global header text, but was instead added below it at the time (10th anniversary for what if?)	Credits
2024-04-06 2916: Machine	Today's comic was created with Max Goodhart, Ed White, Alex Garcia, Kevin Cotrone, Conor & Ami Stokes, Liran Nuna, Patrick, Manish Goregaokar, Benjamin Staffin, Amber, and Michael Leuchtenburg with physics by Rapier.	This comic's header text mentions the people who helped Randall put it together. It was on the front page from Saturday 6 April 2024 until 2917: Types of Eclipse Photo came out on Monday 8 April 2024. The earliest archived version of the next comic is from the following Tuesday 9 April 2024. It is assumed that the header text changed late on Monday 8 April 2024, despite the fact that Machine was still up at that time, as shown in this archive. When 2917: Types of Eclipse Photo was released, the front page had returned to the normal header. As seen in the text, many people were involved. Some helped with two previous April Fools' Day comics, but there are many more involved in this comic than anything which came before it. Clicking on each person takes you to a link of their Instagram, Twitter, or the homepage of their own website/blog. In the credits, it is seen that the physics for the comic used Rapier, the Fast 2D and 3D physics engine for the Rust programming language. This header text was removed from the homepage on 2022-04-09, but it stayed as a permanent header for this comic.	Credits
2023-04-20 2765: Escape Speed	Today's comic was put together with help from Max Goodhart, Patrick Clapp, Amber, Kevin, Benjamin Staffin, and Janelle Shane.	This comic's header mentions and gives thanks to the people who helped Randall put the comic together. Despite the fact the comic was supposed to be a Wednesday release according to the archives, it was on the homepage from Thursday 2023-04-20 until Friday 2023-04-21, when the next comic (2766: Helium Reserve) was released and the page returned to its normal header. This header text remains as a permanent header text for this comic. Clicking each name takes you to their Instagram/Twitter page or the homepage of their own website/blog. Most had helped with the two previous April Fools' day comic (see below).	Credits
FIND ARCHIVE HERE 2729: Planet Killer Comet Margarita	Today's comic was drawn for Daniel Becker, based on his winning question submitted to the What If? 2 contest.	This header celebrated the winner of Randall's What If? 2 Contest, being one Daniel Becker. It mentions that the comic was based off the winning question's entry into the What If? blog.	What If? Promotion
2022-04-01 2601: Instructions	Today's comic was created with Patrick, Amber, @chromakode, Michael, Kat, Conor, @zigdon, and Benjamin Staffin.	This comic's header mentions and gives thanks to the people who helped Randall put it together. It was on the front page from Friday 2022-04-01 until Tuesday 2022-04-05, when 2602: Linguistics came out and the front page returned to its normal header. Clicking on each of the names takes you to the person's Instagram/Twitter page. Five also helped with the previous April Fools' Day comic. Because this header was only related to 2601, it was removed from the frontpage header, but it stayed up as a permanent header on this specific comic.	Credits
2021-04-01 2445: Checkbox	This comic was put together by Max Goodhart, Patrick, Amber, Benjamin Staffin, Kevin Cotrone, Kat, and Michael Leuchtenburg.	This comic's header mentions and gives thanks to the people who helped put it together. It was on the front page from Thursday 2021-04-01 until 2446: Spike Proteins released Monday 2021-04-05. Each person has a link to their name, the first being a personal homepage, and the other six linking to their Twitter accounts. Five of these people also helped with the previous April Fools' Day comic. Because this header is related only to this comic, it was removed from the front page and continued as a permanent header text for this comic.	Credits
2020-04-04 2288: Collector's Edition	Today's comic was put together by Max Goodhart, Amber, Benjamin Staffin, Kevin, @fading_interest, Kat, @zigdon, and Christopher Night.	This comic's header mentions and gives thanks to the people who helped Randall put it together. It was only on the front page for about 1 day, around the 3rd or 4th of April 2020, the day before 2289: Scenario 4 came out, and the header text returned to normal. Each name credited has either a personal homepage or a Twitter profile, except for the last name, which isn't linked. As this header text was only relevant to this comic, it was removed as the front page header and stayed as a permanent header to this comic.	Credits
2017-12-14 1928: Seven Years	Becky Beaton, sister of fellow cartoonist Kate Beaton, has also been diagnosed with cancer. You can support her treatment here.	This text was released as a response to the cancer diagnosis of Becky Beaton, the sister of Kate Beaton, the author of the webcomic Hark! A Vagrant. Although this is not on Randall's list of Comics he enjoys, he is clearly influenced by a cancer diagnosis among someone in his creative field. Despite the fact that the support page was discontinued, this text continues to stay on this comic. Making this weirder is the fact that Randall has previously done something similar for another friend, Emily, but that header was not made permanent.	Fundraiser
ARCHIVES WOOO!! 1975: Right Click	A number of people collaborated to build this comic, including @chromakode, Amber @fadinginterest Kat, Kevin, and Stereo.	This comic gave credit to the people that helped Randall put together that year's April Fools' Day comic. Most contributors mentioned in this text have also helped with other comics since then. Each link in the text took you to either the contributors' social media page or their own personal website.	Credits
2017-04-28 1830: ISS Solar Transit 2	Previously: ISS Solar Transit	This header links back to 1828: ISS Solar Transit, a comic with the same joke setup released on the Monday of the same week	Trans-comic link
ARCHIVES! ARCHIVES! ARCHIVES! 1738: Moon Shapes	Thank you to Phil Plait for the correction on #4!	This header gives credit to Phil Plait, who corrected a mistake in the comic and prompted Randall to update the comic after its release.	Credits
2016-10-10 1723: Meteorite Identification	Note: Jolyon, founder of mindat.org, made a similar chart way before me!	This Header text gives credit to Joylon, founder of mindat.org, who made a very similar comic to this long before Randall. This Header text is permanently attached to this comic.	Credits
2016-05-12 1679: Substitutions 3	FInd the actual text, remember the 1	This comic was the third installment of the Substitutions series. As he did the same with the second, the header text is very similar. This header text is a permanent staple of this comic.	Trans-comic link
2016-04-04 1663: Garden	Protip: If you don't like how your garden is growing, you can click to prune it. You can copy the URL to share your garden. From other browsers, it will be view-only.	This comic had a header text to help people use the comic when it came out. It was the global header text for some time, before it disappeared from the main header and remained as the header for Garden.	Additional Information
2016-01-04 1625: Substitutions 2	Find the actual text, remember the 1	This header text was used as a link to the previous installment of the substitutions series. When Substitutions 3, Randall made a separate header text linking to Substitutions 1 and 2. It was on the main page while the comic was up, and continues as a header text for this comic.	Trans-comic link
[F]AR[T]CHIVES 1446: Landing	{Template:1	This header gives credit to Emily Lakdawalla, who helped Randall create the comic, which was a live comic-based recreation of the landing of Philae, a probe designed by the ESA to land on Comet 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko. It is assumed that Emily was the reason that Randall was able to get current information about the landing so quickly.	Credits
notice 1127: Congress	You can get this comic as a poster!	This header text is the only one to be a permanent header text promoting the store. At the time of writing (November 2025), the store is offline, meaning that this link doesn't work. This is the most recent comic-specific header text to promote the xkcd store.	Store Promotion
2012-07-09 1079: United Shapes	There's a larger version of this map here (Colorado is here). It's also available as a poster.	This header was only on July 9th, 2012, the day this comic came out. The day after, every page except the front page displayed a different header. On the 13th of July, other pages had a new version of the header above. Later, 1079 gained a special combined header text, removing the part about Colorado and consolidating the unique header text into a single sentence. The new global header text, promoting the first installment of the What if? blog, was inserted below the unique text, creating a very unique combination header. Possibly due to a bug, the What if? announcement remains on the comic to this day, despite the fact that it was a normal global header, which changed for all other pages many years ago.	Store Promotion
Put me down as 'not excited' 1052: Every Major's Terrible	Cool--someone's already taken a crack at singing this!	This header text promoted an attempt at someone singing the comic, which was a parody of the Major-General's Song. It links to a YouTube video of the attempt. As seen from the text, this header was not up with the release of the comic, but instead came out later.	Additional Information
2012-04-25 1047: Approximations	{{{1}}}	This comic has a permanent header text stating that many people emailed Randall about a separate approximation for the amount of seconds in a year. However, because the earliest archive already shows this text, it is unlikely that Randall actually received these emails before changing the text. This header text was unique to this comic from the start, as other comics contained the global header text at the time of 1047's release date.	Additional Information
2012-04-01 1037: Umwelt	You can get posters, prints, and t-shirts in the xkcd store.	This comic's header text promotes the xkcd store permanently. Despite the fact that the comic was on the front page, this was a comic-exclusive header from the very beginning, as other comics had the global header text on 1037's release date.	Store Promotion
2012-03-19 1031: s/keyboard/leopard/	A helpful reader has provided an s/keyboard/leopard/ user script.	In response to the joke of this comic, a reader created a browser extension that replaces each instance of the word 'keyboard' with the word 'leopard'. Randall appears to have gotten this script before its official release, as it was already on the header on the day the comic was released. While the link does not go anywhere useful any longer, an archived version of the link can be accessed here. When 1032: Networking came out on 2012-03-21, the header text had returned to how it was before.	Additional Information
2011-12-29 996: Making Things Difficult	Some context for the cancer comics: https://blog.xkcd.com/2011/06/30/family-illness/	This header text links to Randall's Blag, providing context for the recent comics relating to cancer. Around that time, his then-fiancee was diagnosed with Stage three Breast Cancer, which resulted in more emotional comics relating to cancer, leaving many readers confused.	Additional Information
2012-04-04 980: Money	This one was fun (and exhausting) to make. There's a poster of it in the store!	This header text links to the store page for this comic, containing a large poster of the comic.	Store Promotion
2011-11-15 977: Map Projections	It turns out Monday was Steve Waterman's birthday. His site has posters of his map, plus maybe the world's only Winkel Tripel-critiquing poetry.	This header text mentions the birthday of Steve Waterman, and links to the homepage of his website.	Additional Information
THEY'RE COMING TO TAKE ME AWAY, HA-HAAA, THEY'RE COMING TO TAKE ME AWAY! 931: Lanes	Some context.	This header text gave context to the comic, which was in relation to cancer. At that point, Randall's wife was battling Breast cancer, so cancer was a major part of Randall's life at that point in time.	Additional Information
HO-HO, HEE-HEE, HA-HA 920: YouTube Parties	Oops! It seems I wasn't the first one to do this joke.	This header text, which is very similar to the header text for 2957: A Crossword Puzzle, admits that Randall was accidentally inspired by a different comic which had done the same joke earlier. The link in the text took you to a blag post admitting to the accidental plagiarism.	Credits
weer 896: Marie Curie	Today's comic might be familiar to a few dozen of you. :) P.S. New blag post!	This header text served two purposes. One was to give a message to those who 'might be familar' with the comic. The second was to promote a new Blag post, titled Michael Bay's Scenario.
Boneless Chicken 870: Advertising	Note: This comic's filename was originally 'advertising.png'. If you couldn't see it, that was just your AdBlock zealously protecting you. }	This header text let readers know about an issue with the comic not showing up that some users were experiencing. The comic was, apparently, being shown by displaying a PNG of the comic, which people's AdBlockers were mistaking for an advertisement, preventing the comic from appearing.	Additional Information
8,866,550 865: Nanobots	xkcd.com now has IPv6 connectivity. If you can't reach it, you or your ISP have misconfigured equipment. Sadly, I now have no way to tell you.	This comic's header lets readers know that xkcd supports IPv6 (Internet Protocol Version Six) connectivity, which assigns each device with an IP address and increases the amount of possible IP addresses to over 900 Undecillion. It also tells readers that if they are unable to access that connectivity, either they or their ISP haven't configured their equipment correctly. However, Randall admits he has no way to tell readers which end has the issue.	Additional Information
2011-01-04 851: Na	I can't believe I forgot Hey Jude. I don't get do-overs, but I couldn't resist making a fixed version.	This header text appeared after Randall made this comic, consisting of songs known for repeating the lyric 'na'. After realizing he forgot 'Hey Jude' by The Beatles, he made a separate version of the comic with 'Hey Jude' included. See more in the comic's trivia section.	Additional Information
Neenannerneenannerneenannerneenanner 826: Guest Week: Zach Weiner (SMBC)	Guest week! Today's comic is contributed by Zach Weiner. Five guest comics this week! XKCD should be back to normal after that.	This header text was a reminder to readers about the ongoing Guest Week, this comic being the last one before returning to normal. This header lets leaders know about who contributed to the comic and when xkcd was expected to return to normal. For this comic, the contributor was Zach Weinersmith, author of the webcomic Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal.	Credits
choking on your alibis 825: Guest Week: Jeffrey Rowland (Overcompensating)	Guest week! Today's comic is contributed by Jeffrey Rowland. Five guest comics this week! XKCD should be back to normal after that.	This header text was a reminder to readers about the ongoing Guest Week, this comic being the fourth one of five. It lets the readers know who contributed and when xkcd was expected to return to normal. For this comic, the contributor was Jeffrey Rowland, author of the webcomic Overcompensating.	Credits
But it's just the price I pay! 824: Guest Week: Bill Amend (FoxTrot)	Guest week! Today's comic is contributed by Bill Amend. Five guest comics this week! XKCD should be back to normal after that.	This header text was a reminder to readers about the ongoing Guest Week, this comic being the third one of five. It lets readers know who contributed to that comic and when xkcd was expected to return to normal. For this comic, the contributor was Bill Amend, author of the webcomic FoxTrot.	Credits
not nice 823: Guest Week: David Troupes (Buttercup Festival)	Guest week! Today's comic is contributed by David Troupes. Five guest comics this week! XKCD should be back to normal after that.	This header text was a reminder to readers about the ongoing Guest Week, this comic being the second one of five. It lets readers know who contributed to that comic and when xkcd was expected to return to normal. For this comic, the contributor was David Troupes, author of the webcomic Buttercup Festival.	Credits
eciton 822: Guest Week: Jeph Jacques (Questionable Content)	Guest week! Today's comic is contributed by Jeph Jacques. Five guest comics this week! XKCD should be back to normal after that.	This header text was to let readers know of Guest Week, this comic being the first of five guest comics. It lets readers know who contributed to that comic and when xkcd was expected to return to normal. For this comic, the contributor was Jeph Jacques, author of the webcomic Questionable Content.	Credits
meweeeeeeewrr 802: Online Communities 2	Full view here, poster here. Note: While I was working on this, Ethan Bloch posted his own update of my my 2007 map. Check it out, too!	This header text served two purposes. One was to give a larger version of the comic and also promote its poster, which could be found in the xkcd store before it was shut down. The second is to promote the fact that one Ethan Bloch had created his own update of comic 256. The link above now takes you to an archive link as the original site is now defunct.	Additional Information
2010-05-12 739: Malamanteau		This comic's header text mentions that this specific comic is released under a Creative Commons 3.0 license. The link in the header text goes to the page regarding the Attribution Share-Alike 3.0 United States (CC BY-SA 3.0 US) license. Normally, xkcd is released under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 2.5 (CC BY-NC 2.5) license. This comic's header didn't appear until between 2 and 4 months after it was published, with the earliest archive with the custom header text being from September 13th.	Additional Information
ow 681: Gravity Wells	Click on the comic to view the full-size version	This simple header text lets readers know that, if they want a full-size version, they can click on the comic to access it.	Additional Information
whuiae 657: Movie Narrative Charts	This comic is also available as a poster here! Click on today's comic to view the full-size version!	This header text served two purposes. The first was to promote the fact that the comic could be acquired as a poster in the store before it was shut down. The second purpose was to let readers know that, if they wanted a larger version of the comic, they could access it by clicking on the comic.	Store Promotion
archive find 645: RPS	Comic today's you confuses here click if.	This header text was a parody of the comic, being written in Reverse Polish notation. In normal notation, it would be read as 'Click here if today's comic confuses you', with the word 'here' linking to the Wikipedia page for Reverse Polish notation.	Additional Information
skamteboard 580: The Race: Part 4	For this week, xkcd will update once a day (through Friday).	This header text let readers know that, for that week only, a new comic would be released every day instead of the normal Monday/Wednesday/Friday schedule due to the 'The Race' series of comics. This comic was the last comic in the series and was released on a Thursday.	Comic Series
skamteboard 2 579: The Race: Part 3	For this week, xkcd will update once a day (through Friday).	This header text let readers know that, for that week only, a new comic would be released every day instead of the normal Monday/Wednesday/Friday schedule due to the 'The Race' series of comics. This comic was the third comic in the series, and was released on the normal release date of Wednesday.	Comic Series
skamteboard 3 578: The Race: Part 2	For this week, xkcd will update once a day (through Friday).	This header text let readers know that, for that week only, a new comic would be released every day instead of the normal Monday/Wednesday/Friday schedule due to the 'The Race' series of comics. This comic was the second installment in the series, being released on a Tuesday. This comic was also where the '(through Friday)' portion of the header got added. It's possible that people got confused and assumed that Randall would release 7 comics over 7 days, when he would actually be only releasing comics every day until Friday.	Comic Series
skamteboard 4 577: The Race: Part 1	For this week, xkcd will update once a day.	This header text let readers know that, for that week only, a new comic would be released every day instead of the normal Monday/Wednesday/Friday schedule due to the 'The Race' series of comics. This comic was the first installment in the series, and was released on a Monday	Comic Series
Those is great pants! 563: Fermirotica	There are xkcd prints available in the store. Example Google sex calculation	This header served two purposes. It promoted the fact that you could get xkcd prints in the xkcd store before it was shut down, and also gave an example of the content shown in the comic.	Store Promotion
2008-10-13 488: Steal This Comic	{{{1}}}	This comic and header text was made as a complaint of Digital Rights Management, or DRM. The header text makes a proclamation that the Amazon MP3 store sells DRM-free music, telling his readers how to acquire music not affected by DRM.	Additional Information
You're doing it again 482: Height	This comic is available as a poster print.	This simple header served the purpose of advertising the fact that you could get this comic as a poster in the xkcd store, before it was shut down.	Store Promotion
2008-09-05 472: House of Pancakes	(Today's comic is a parody of House of Leaves.)	When this comic was the newest, it was shown on the front page of xkcd, as seen here the day after release on 2008-09-06. However, this header was only on this comic, and the normal header returned to the front page after comic 473 was released.	Credits
the right ones 442: xkcd Loves the Discovery Channel	XKCD updates every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. See: Original Discovery Channel video	This header text serves to let the reader know of a video which they could watch, which contains the song that the comic is a parody of.	Additional Information
where is my Spanish rn 433: Journal 5	XKCD updates every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. Previously: Journal	This header text let the reader know that this comic was part of the 'Journal' series, and encouraged them to go back to the first comic in order to see each installment of the series in order. This installment was the final one in the series.	Comic Series
Before the nouns 432: Journal 4	XKCD updates every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. Previously: Journal	This header text let the reader know that this comic was part of the 'Journal' series, and encouraged them to go back to the first comic in order to see each installment of the series in order. This installment was the fourth one in the series of five.	Comic Series
This is let's write 426: Geohashing	What is this about? See the wiki.	This header text allowed the reader to do further research on the topic by linking to the official xkcd wiki, which was part of the long-defunct Forums.	Additional Information
We will ever run out? 405: Journal 3	XKCD updates every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. Previously: Journal 2	This header text let the reader know that this comic was part of the 'Journal' series. Unlike the other installments of the Journal series, this text linked to the previous installment rather than the first installment.	Comic Series
Es el diablo}] 343: 1337: Part 3		This header text served the purpose of letting readers know that Randall had specially released this comic under a CC BY-SA 3.0 license, allowing for the image to be uploaded to Wikipedia. Normally, Randall normally releases his comics under a CC BY-NC 2.5 license, which, at the time, was not allowed to be uploaded to Wikipedia.	Additional Information

Date & Comic	Header text	Explanation	Purpose
From 2024-12-05 (during 3020: Infinite Armada Chess) until present.	Special 10th anniversary edition of WHAT IF?— revised and annotated with brand-new illustrations and answers to important questions you never thought to ask—Out now. Order it here!	The only difference between this text and the previous global header text is the final hyphen. The first link goes to the page for the new what if? book on xkcd, with the other link going to the Harper Collins (the publisher) page for the book. This header has been up for approximately 9 months at the time of writing (2025-09-17), except for the one month when Randall endorsed Harris for president. Because the previous header texts as well as the Header text countdown all promoted some sort of what if? book, the header has been continuously used to promote what if? for nearly 4 years at the time of writing.	Book promotion
From 2024-11-16 (during 3012: The Future of Orion) until 2024-12-04 (during 3019: Advent Calendar Advent Calendar)	Special 10th anniversary edition of WHAT IF?—revised and annotated with brand-new illustrations and answers to important questions you never thought to ask—coming from November 2024. Preorder here!	The only difference between this header text and the next one was that during this time period, only preorders were available.	Book promotion
From 2024-10-17 (during 2999: Bad Map Projection: The United Stralia) until 2024-11-15 (during 3012: The Future of Orion)		This header text was Randall's official endorsement of Kamala Harris for President during the 2024 United States presidential election. He also posted the same image on hisTwitter (formally X) account and on his Bluesky account on November 3rd, two days before the election. This text was up until November 11th, after the election had taken place and Donald Trump was declared the winner.	Politics
From 2024-05-15 (during 2933: Elementary Physics Paths) until 2024-10-15 (during 2998: Ravioli-Shaped Objects)	Special 10th anniversary edition of WHAT IF?—revised and annotated with brand-new illustrations and answers to important questions you never thought to ask—coming from November 2024. Preorder here!	This text promotes the preorder of the 10th anniversary edition of the original what if? book. The first link goes to the page for the book on xkcd and the other link goes to the book's Harper Collins page (Harper Collins is the book's publisher). The same text was displayed after Randall's endorsement of Kamala Harris for president.	Book promotion
From 2024-03-20 (during 2909: Moon Landing Mission Profiles) until 2024-05-14 (during 2932: Driving PSA)	{{{1}}}	This header promotes the new what if? YouTube channel, in which Randall narrates a post on the what if? blog. At this point, the global header text had been promoting what if? for over two years.	Channel promotion
From 2023-11-29 (during 2861: X Value) until 2024-03-19 (during 2908: Moon Armor Index)	{{{1}}}	This header promotes the what if? YouTube channel, narrated by Randall. The first link goes to the what if? page on xkcd, and the other two go to the new YouTube channel. A small change occurred 2024-03-14, where the first two lines became one line, making the alignment worse. This new version only lasted five days before a change was made, replacing it with a different, although very similar, header text.	Channel promotion
From 2023-08-31 (during 2822: *@gmail.com) until 2023-11-28 (during 2860: Decay Modes)	What if? 2 is now available in paperback in the UK!	This header text promotes the paperback version of what if? 2, notifying readers that it was available in the UK. The link goes to the page on xkcd about the what if? 2 book, and directing to the UK order link, where there was now an option to order a paperback copy. An image was placed above the text, showing the front cover of the new book. Because this was not specifically related to what if? 2, it ended a streak of over 22 months where the header text was constantly promoting the book since the countdown began in January 2022.	Book promotion
From 2023-02-17 (during 2739: Data Quality) until 2023-08-30 (during 2821: Path Minimization)		This header has no text, only an image of the front cover of the book.	Book promotion
From 2022-09-23 (during 2675: Pilot Priority List) until 2023-02-16 (during 2738: Omniknot)		This header consists of two images, with the one promoting the NYT bestseller list on the left. This header somewhat obviously celebrates the fact that what if? 2, shortly after release, had claimed a spot on the New York Times bestseller list.	Book promotion
From 2022-09-13 (during 2672: What If? 2 Flowchart) until 2022-09-22 (during 2675: Pilot Priority List)		This header announces the release of Randall's what if? 2 book. Each image is a link, which takes you to the book's page on the xkcd website.	Book promotion
From 2022-09-12 (during 2670: Interruption) until 2022-09-13 (during 2671: Rotation)		This header acts as a countdown for Randall's what if? 2 book. This is a very similar header to what had come out just two days before, which instead displayed an image showing 3 days. The Les Miserables song mentioned is One Day More, which is a fitting title for a song stuck in his head. Each image is a link, which takes you to the xkcd page for what if? 2.	Book promotion
From 2022-09-11 (during 2670: Interruption) until 2022-09-12 (during 2670: Interruption)		This header acts as a countdown for Randall's what if? 2 book. This is a very similar header to the header showing one week. which came out 4 days beforehand, and the header showing one day, which came out just one day after this header released. Each image is a link, both taking you to the xkcd page for the book.	Book promotion
2022-09-07 From 2022-09-07 (during 2668: Artemis Quote) until 2022-09-10 (during 2670: Interruption)		This header was the third straight header to feature a two-image design, where the countdown was on the left and the book's cover was on the right. It promoted the soon-to-be-released what if? 2 book, which had been heavily promoted for nearly two weeks up to that point. Each image is a link, which takes you the xkcd page for the book.	Book promotion
From 2022-08-11 (during 2657: Complex Vowels) until 2022-08-16 (during 2659: Unreliable Connection) and from 2022-08-27 (during 2664: Cloud Swirls) until 2022-09-06 (during 2668: Artemis Quote)		This header text, which advertised the fact that preorders were open for what if? 2, was the global header text for two different stints. Instead of this being the global header from August 11th until September 6th, it was interrupted for 9 days while Randall's book tour was ongoing. The image to the left was a link, which took you to a what if? 2 contest. In this contest, one contestant's question would be answered by Randall and included in the book. The image to the right takes you to the book's dedicated page on xkcd.	Book promotion
From 2022-08-17 (during 2659: Unreliable Connection) until 2022-08-26 (during 2663: Tetherball Configurations)		This header was the first header of several to consist of two distinct images, and the third straight to contain the image of the book's cover after the countdown ended. It promotes a book tour that Randall was taking at the time, to promote what if? 2. Clicking the image took you to the events page of xkcd. At the time, it showed you a calendar with each planned stop on the book tour marked, covering the US and London. The image on the right takes you to what if? 2's dedicated page on xkcd.	Book promotion
From 2022-07-19 (during 2647: Capri Suns) until 2022-08-10 (during 2656: Scientific Field Prefixes)	Preorder What If? 2 (all US preorders eligible) and enter our contest for a chance to win a dedicated comic and What If blog post!	This header contains text which promotes what if? 2, which was recently made available to preorder at that time. Clicking the link in the text takes you to a site which allowed users to compete to have their question, along with an answer, be put in the book. While this link is now defunct, you can access an archived version here. Clicking the image of the book's cover takes you to the book's dedicated page on xkcd.	Book promotion
From 2022-02-01 (during 2575: What If? 2) until 2022-07-18 (during 2646: Minkowski Space)	What If? 2: Additional Serious Scientific Answers to Absurd Hypothetical Questions comes out 9/13. Preorder here!	This header text was the first header to promote what if? 2. It promoted the fact that preorders were available, and that the book would come out 7 months later, on September 13th. It also was the first of many headers promoting the book to consist of two parts, this one having some lines of text and an image of the book's cover. This header's release coincided with multiple changes to the site, including a comic which also announced the new book and a change to the xkcd links section of the site at the top-left corner. It now included links to books, and especially to this specific book. The image of the book's cover, the link in the text, and the comic itself are all links to the book's dedicated xkcd page.	Book promotion
From 2022-01-10 (during 2565: Latency) until 2022-01-31 (during 2574: Autoresponder)	xkcd updates every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.	This header text was an image, which slowly zoomed out and moved to reveal a promotion for What if? 2, along with the standard header text. In the image, there was a countdown, which began reading 20d 22h 0m and ticked down every minute until only ten minutes were left. At that point, the image began shaking, and the countdown began counting seconds until it reached zero, at which point the final frame, which showed a snapshot of the book's cover, was displayed for a few minutes before the header text updated and the next comic came out. When viewing the archives, the countdown actually still functions, and follows the internal clock of the user's computer for 59 minutes. For a full transcript and explanation of this header, see Countdown in header text.	Book promotion
2022-01-08 (during 2565: Latency) until 2022-01-10 (during 2565: Latency)	xkcd updates every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.	This header text was a return to the standard header text, which had not appeared as the global header since November 7th, 2018, making this the longest period of time without the standard header text appearing even once. As the countdown was added to it on the tenth, it was only the global header in this form for two days.	Standard Header
From 2021-12-20 (during 2557: Immunity) until 2022-01-06 (during 2564: Sunshield)	For anyone trying to find What If? this year, it's in stock at Barnes & Noble, Books-a-Million, and Bookshop	This header text mentions the fact that, for anybody who wishes to purchase what if? for Christmas, it was in stock at multiple different book retailers. Each link is the corresponding store's link for What If?.	Book promotion
From 2020-06-03 (during 2315: Eventual Consistency) until 2021-12-19 (during 2556: Turing Complete)		This header promoted Black lives Matter, showing a single-panel comic with Cueball (possibly representing Randall), saying 'Black Lives Matter' with a grey box next to him reading 'How To Help'. However, instead of just this box being a link, the entire image is a link to joining Campaign Zero, a part of the BLM movement. It came out shortly after the Killing of George Floyd, which sparked large protests in the US and received large amount of national and global media coverage. This header stayed for over 18 months, making this possibly the longest-staying header in xkcd history.	Politics
From 2020-04-05 (during 2289: Scenario 4) until 2020-06-02 (during 2314: Carcinization)	(no header text)	This was the first time that xkcd had gone without a header, especially for an extended period of time. After the previous header was removed, no header was inserted in its place, not even the standard go-to header. It stayed empty for almost two months, until the BLM header was inserted.	No Header
From 2020-04-04 (during 2288: Collector's Edition) until 2020-04-05 (during 2289: Scenario 4)	Today's comic was put together by Max Goodhart, Amber, Benjamin Staffin, Kevin, @fading_interest, Kat, @zigdon, and Christopher Night.	This header text was only up for one day, and gives credit to those who put together the 2020 April Fools' Day comic, which had taken two extra days to release due to 'technical reasons' (see the previous header). While this header was only up for one comic, and continues as a comic-specific header, this was a global header while the April Fools' comic was on the front page. Oddly, when this header was removed after 2289: Scenario 4, no header came to replace it, leading to a 2-month period where there was no global header text at all.	Credits
From 2020-04-02 (during 2287: Pathogen Resistance) until 2020-04-03 (during 2287: Pathogen Resistance)	Note: For technical reasons Wednesday's comic will be posted Thursday instead. Apologies for the delay!	This header come directly before 2020's April Fools' Day comic. It apologized for the delay of the comic, stating that technical difficulties along with the overall complexity of the comic pushed its release date back one day, meaning the comic was posted on a Thursday instead of the usual Wednesday. This comic was the first in over a year to not promote How To?, and was the first to not promote a book since 2019-02-06. This delayed upload schedule created circumstances which made it so 2287: Pathogen Resistance stayed two extra days on the front page, meaning the third comic of the week, 2289: Scenario 4, was uploaded on a Saturday.	Comic Delay
From 2019-11-22 (during 2232: Hotel Room Party) until 2019-12-01 (during 2235: Group Chat Rules) and from 2020-01-16 (during 2255: Tattoo Ideas) until 2020-04-01 (during 2287: Pathogen Resistance)	You can get it here: Amazon, B&N, IndieBound, Apple, Audible, Target	This was the global header for two distinct stints, being interrupted by the Christmas promotion of the book. It was also the last header to promote How To, which had continuously been promoted in the global header text for over a year at that point. It gives a quick promotion of the book in an image, followed by multiple links which take you to different websites where you can purchase the book.	Book promotion
From 2019-12-02 (during 2236: Is it Christmas?) until 2020-01-15 (during 2255: Tattoo Ideas)	You can get it here: Amazon, B&N, IndieBound, Apple, Audible, Target	This was the Christmas promotion of Randall's new book, How To. Despite the fact that it was solely meant to promote the book for the Christmas season, it remained up until January 16th. This header was very similar to the previous header, with the only changes being made to the image. Each link in the text takes you to each brand's respective page for the book.	Book promotion
From 2019-11-06 (during 2224: Software Updates) until 2019-11-22 (during 2231: the Time Before And After Land)	Apple, Audiobooks, Audible, Google Play, and Libro.fm	This header text was used to promote How To, which had come out a couple months beforehand. As always, clicking anywhere on the image takes you to the book's page on Penguin Random House, where you could find the audio sample. Each of the links takes you to that brand's respective page for How To. This is also the latest header text to promote any sort of audio.	Book promotion
From 2019-10-02 (during 2210: College Athletes) until 2019-11-05 (during 2224: Software Updates)	Amazon, B&N, B&N Exclusive Edition, IndieBound, Apple, Audible, Target I'll be at New York Comic Con! I'm giving a talk on Thursday, and on Friday Zach Weinersmith and I will be hosting an event at Caveat NYC.	This Header simultaneously promotes the book How To, with each of the links in the first part of the text going to the brand's respective pages for the book, and the fact that Randall would be going to the New York Comic Con, a multi-day comic book fan convention. It states that Randall would be giving a presentation that Thursday at the Comic Con, and would also be hosting an event at Caveat NYC, an event venue on the island of Manhattan. Over the course of this header's existence, small changes were made, but nothing major enough to be granted its own row.	Book promotion
From 2019-09-30 (during 2209: Fresh Pears) until 2019-10-02 (no archived version) (during 2210: College Athletes)	Order: Amazon, B&N, B&N Exclusive Edition, IndieBound, Apple, Audible, Target	This header features Cueball, representing Randall, commenting on how How To, the book this header was promoting, was 'tons of fun' to write, and that it can be preordered by clicking a blue link. As always, there are no HTML image maps used, meaning that clicking anywhere on the image will take you to xkcd's dedicated page for the book. Each link provided below the image takes you to each brand's page for the book.	Book promotion
From 2019-09-11 (during 2200: Unreachable State) until 2019-09-29 (during 2208: Drone Fishing)	Order: Amazon, B&N, B&N Exclusive Edition, IndieBound,Apple, Audible	This Header text was used to promote the fact that How To, which had been released just a few days prior. After the header promoting the book's release date was removed, this Header took its place. The image consists of an image of the book's cover, with some decoration around it, and text beneath it. This text provides links which go to the respective brand's page for the new book. The image also states that Serena Williams and Chris Hadfield featured in the book, which they do. Serena Williams' presence in the book is also mentioned in the promotion comic Serena Versus the Drones. Serena Williams is a retired professional tennis player and former world #1 on the Women's Tennis Association's rankings. u Chris Hadfield is a retired Canadian astronaut, singer, engineer, and former Royal Canadian Air Force fighter pilot. He served on two space shuttle missions and has spent five months as the commander of the International Space Station.	Book promotion
From 2019-09-04 (during 2198: Throw) until 2019-09-09 (during 2200: Unreachable State)	Order: Amazon,Barnes & Noble,IndieBound,Apple Books	This header text celebrated the release date of How To. The image consists of an image with two images of the book shown, with a drawing of Cueball riding two quadcopters up to change a lightbulb in a ceiling lamp, while two other characters are watching, one of whom is holding a ladder. Beneath the image are links to order to book from various sites, and clicking the image takes you to xkcd's dedicated page for the book.	Book promotion
2019-09-03 (during 2197: Game Show)	Order: Amazon,Barnes & Noble,IndieBound,Apple Books	This header text was a joke which Randall performed on his viewers on How To's release date, which is tailored so that an average xkcd reader would get it. It jokes that there are two different versions of the book for two differing calendar systems. The Gregorian calendar (the calendar we use today) replaced the Julian calendar because the latter had an issue, which caused an increasing discrepancy between the actual date and the weather associated with it. The Gregorian calendar is much more accurate in terms of the solar year. Because of this increasing discrepancy, the date shown on the Julian calendar is 13 days (now 15) behind the date shown on the Gregorian Calendar. This header was only up for a day, and it was changed to a more normal celebration the next day.	Book promotion
From 2019-08-27 (during 2194: How to Send a File) until 2019-09-02 (during 2197: Game Show)	My new book, How To, comes out next week! Read an exclusive excerpt about transmission here. Amazon,Barnes & Noble,IndieBound,Apple Books	This header simply promotes the new book How To, and the fact it was out in a week. Unlike the multiple headers promoting How To both before and after this one, it consists solely of a few lines of text. It provides links to the respective brand's page for the new book. The second line also contains a link to one of his blog posts, which contains an excerpt from one of the chapters. A later version of the header included these links, as well as a link to the book tour. The page now contained the winner of the book tour contest, Juneau, Alaska. Despite the fact that this wasn't a countdown, it stayed up until the book's release date on September 3rd.	Book promotion
From 2019-08-06 (during 2185: Cumulonimbus) until 2019-08-26 (during 2193: Well-Ordering Principle)	Preorder How To: Amazon,Barnes & Noble,IndieBound,Apple Books	This image promotes a contest which allows a US reader to win a sketch of themselves in his new book, How To, which would come out that September. It also contains a number of links which go to the respective brand's dedicated page for the book. Clicking on the image takes you to a blag post about the event, titled Win an xkcd sketch.	Book promotion
From 2019-08-03 (during 2184: Unpopular Opinions) until 2019-08-06 (during 2185: Cumulonimbus)	Preorder:Amazon,Barnes & Noble,IndieBound,Apple Books	This Header, like many of those which came both before and after it, promotes the new book How To, which was coming out in just under a month at the time. This image promotes said fact, with an image of the book's cover to the left of the text. Below the image, there are four links, each taking you to the respective brand's page for the book, allowing you to preorder it. Clicking on the image took you to a blag post titled How To Chapter List and Introduction, which contained How To's table of contents and introduction.	Book promotion
From 2019-07-10 (during 2173: Trained a Neural Net) until 2019-07-14 (during 2175: Flag Interpretation) and from 2019-07-23 (during 2179: NWS Warnings) until 2019-08-02 (during 2184: Unpopular Opinions)	Preorder:Amazon,Barnes & Noble,IndieBound,Apple Books	This header text, like many which had come before and after it, promotes How To, a book which, at the time, would have been releasing in about 2 months. It had two distinctive stints as the header text, being interrupted by the promotion of his ComiCon appearance for about a week. This header was the first header to include preorder links below the image, each taking you to a specific brand's page to preorder the book.	Book promotion
From 2019-07-15 (during 2176: How Hacking Works) until 2019-07-22 (during 2179: NWS Warnings)	Going to San Diego Comic Con this week? I'll see you there!	This header text was a brief break from the How To promotion, instead promoting a talk which he would give at that year's San Diego Comic Con. During the Con, he gave a talk and appeared in some panels, before finally handing out signed copies of How To almost a month before its official release.	Public Appearance
2019-07-09 (during 2173: Trained a Neural Net)		This header was used solely to promote How To, which would be coming out in 3 months at the time. It shows images of the book's cover, with miscellaneous drawings from How To scattered throughout the middle of the image, with text promoting the book. This header only stayed up for a day in this style, before adding a line of links showing where to preorder the book below the image. Clicking on the image takes you to xkcd's dedicated page for the book.	Book promotion
From 2019-06-25 (during 2167: Motivated Reasoning Olympics) until 2019-07-08 (during 2172: Lunar Cycles)		This simplistic header promoted a contest which allowed for the readers of xkcd to choose a town which the How To book tour would visit. Clicking on the image takes you to a blag post outlining the contest details. Using only book titles, you were instructed to create a story, with the longest sentence improving your chances of winning. The image visualized what submissions may look like, with 15 people standing side by side, each holding a book. The eventual winner of this contest was Juneau, Alaska. From left to right, the characters visualized in the image are Megan, Cueball, a man with blonde hair, Jill, Blondie, two Hairys, White Hat, a kid with curly hair, Hairbun, Cueball, Megan, Knit Cap, Ponytail, and Beret Guy.	Book promotion
From 2019-06-15 (during 2163: Chernobyl until 2019-06-25 (during 2167: Motivated Reasoning Olympics)		This header, similar to the previous one, promoted the How To book tour, which Randall would shortly be going on. The image is almost exactly the same as the previous one, with the only change being a link reading '[Click here for dates and tickets]'. While the reason for the change is not known, our best guess is that readers didn't realize that the image was a link, so Randall added this line for clarity. The entire image, not just the blue text, is a link to a blag post officially announcing the book tour, with all the cities and dates which Randall would visit listed out.	Book promotion
From 2019-06-11 (during 2161: An Apple a Day until 2019-06-14 (during 2162: Literary Opinions)		This header was the first to promote the How To book tour. It showed a map of the United States with dots representing the location of each city he would be visiting, with one dot outside the map indicating the city which would be chosen by readers. The list of cities is as follows: September 3rd How to Seattle Portland San Francisco Santa Cruz Los Angeles Salt Lake City Kansas City Ann Arbor Cincinnati Louisville Cambridge New York D.C. Raleigh ????? (Chosen by readers) The entire image links to a blag post announcing the book tour and detailing the contest used to determine the reader-chosen city.	Book promotion
From 2019-02-06 (during 2107: Launch Risk until 2019-04-22 (during 2139: Email Settings) and from 2019-05-17 (during 2150: XKeyboarCD until 2019-06-10 (during 2160: Ken Burns Theory)	HOW TO ABSURD SCIENTIFIC ANSWERS TO COMMON REAL-WORLD PROBLEMS Available September 3, 2019. Preorder: Amazon,Barnes & Noble,IndieBound,Apple Books	This complex header was the first to promote How To. It officially announced the book and provided links where a reader could preorder the book. It served two distinct stints, each lasting over a month, being interrupted by the promotion of the e-newsletter subscription promotion.	Book promotion
From 2019-04-23 (during 2140: Reinvent the Wheel until 2019-05-16 (during 2150: XKeyboarCD)	Still mourning the demise of Google Reader? You can sign up to get new comics delivered by email here.	This header interrupted the first header to promote How To in favor of promoting a subscription service which viewers could utilize as a way to be notified when a new comic was released. It mentions Google Reader, a popular RSS and Atom feed aggregator which had shut down on July 1st, 2013. He advertises the newsletter almost 6 years after the shutdown, using email.
From 2018-11-07 (during 2069: Wishlist until 2019-02-05 (during 2107: Launch Risk)	xkcd updates every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.	After a long period of sharing space with other headers during the ongoing 2018 Midterm Elections. After election day, the standard text came back, being the sole header for almost three months before Randall's announcement of How To. After the standard header text left, it wouldn't reappear for almost three years, the longest gap between standard texts at the time.	Standard Header
From 2018-11-06 (during 2068: Election Night until 2018-11-07 (during 2069: Wishlist)		This header text reminded xkcd readers to vote in the 2018 United States Midterm Elections. As these were highly contested, every vote counted. It gave a reminder about the fact that if the polls close while you're in line, the government must let you vote. It also provides links which give additional information about voting, where your local polling place is, and to see what was on the ballot.	Politics
From 2018-11-02 (during 2067: Challengers until 2018-11-05 (during 2067: Challengers)	Find out where to vote: vote.org. See what's on your ballot: BallotReady.org	This header was very similar to the previous one, only adding a line below the first, taking you to a website which shows what would be on the reader's ballot before that year's election day on November 6th. It is part of a series of header texts related to the US 2018 Midterm Elections.	Politics
From 2018-10-22 (during 2061: Tectonics Game until 2018-11-02 (during 2067: Challengers)	Check your registration and find your polling place at vote.org.	This header text reminded readers to register to vote in the 2018 United States Midterm Elections. It links to vote.org, a website which allows the user to check their registrations and contains a map of polling places near your location.	Politics
Look through the archives for specific dates	xkcd updates every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.	The standard text. It returned for just a couple months, between a reminder for readers in New York to vote and for all readers to register for the main election day during the 2018 United States Midterm Elections.	Standard Header
From 2018-09-13 (during 2045: Social Media Announcement until 2018-09-14 (during 2046: Trum-)	xkcd updates every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. NY votes today! Find your polling place here. (Zephyr Teachout for AG!)	This short-lived header text reminded readers who lived in New York to vote on that day, as it was the day New York voted in the 2018 United States Midterm Elections. The text links to a New York government website which allows the viewer to see which polling place was the closest to them.	Politics
Look through the archives for specific dates	xkcd updates every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.	The standard header text, this time returning for 10 months, from during December 2017 to September 2018. It stayed during the long break between Christmas and the day New York voted in the 2018 United States Midterm Elections.	Standard Header
From 2017-11-26 (during 1920: Emoji Sports until 2017-11-30 (during 1922: Interferometry)	{{{1|To anyone looking for Christmas gifts: Until Monday you can get $5 off What If? and Thing Explainer on Amazon with coupon code GIFTBOOK17. At Barnes & Noble, until Sunday you can get 20% off What If? and Thing Explainer using code GIVETHANKS.	This header text, like many others, only lasted a few days in between long stretches of standard headers. It promoted Christmas sales of What If? and Thing Explainer, as well as providing a code to use on the Barnes & Noble page for the books.	Book promotion
Look through the archives for specific dates	xkcd updates every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.	MIND THE GAP, PROLLY NOT ACTUALLY STANDARD HEADER	Standard Header
From 2017-09-22] (during 1893: Thread until 2017-10-10 (during 1900: Jet Lag)	I'll be visiting the UK next week! You can join me in London from September 30-October 2 (at New Scientist Live, The Royal Institution, and Intelligence Squared), then from October 3-6 in York, Edinburgh, Cambridge and Ely, Oxford, and Cheltenham.	This header text was a promotion for public appearances around the UK between late September and early October. Each link goes to a site where you could purchase tickets to attend his appearances. Despite the fact that all of his appearances had already ended, the promotion continued until October 9th, when the header text returned back to standard.	Public Appearance
Look through the archives for specific dates	xkcd updates every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.	MIND THE GAP, PROLLY NOT ACTUALLY STANDARD HEADER	Standard Header
From 2017-07-31 (during 1869: Positive and Negative Reviews until 2017-08-04 (during 1872: Backup Batteries)		This header thanked readers for their efforts to stop 'The Skinny Repeal', a bill which would have repealed the Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare, in the Senate. In an unexpected twist, Republican senators John McCain, Susan Collins, and Lisa Murkowski all voted against the bill, as well as all democrats, leading the 100-member senate to veto the bill 51-49. John McCain voted 'no' just days after a brain cancer diagnosis, leading two other Republicans to do the same, vetoing the bill. This act had an especially large effect on Randall, as this was during his wife's Breast Cancer treatment. Had the act been passed, it is possible that they would have lost their Healthcare coverage, saddling them with very large amounts of debt which they may not have been able to pay off. The entire image is a link, which takes you to a New York Times article showing the final results of the vote, as well as how members of each party voted.	Politics
From 2017-07-25 (during 1867: Physics Confession] until 2017-07-30 (during 1870: Emoji Movie Reviews)		This header came just days before a Senate vote on the 'skinny repeal' act, which would have repealed major parts of the Affordable Care Act, which would have left millions of people without healthcare coverage. He asks his readers to contact their senators and ask them to vote 'no' on the bill. He provides a phone number to call, as well as recommending readers to contact their friends in multiple Republican states, whose senators were likely to vote 'yes' on the bill, and ask them to call as well. Randall may have been motivated to do this because, at the time, his wife was going through cancer treatment. Had this bill been passed, it is possible their healthcare coverage would have been lost, leading them to attain large amounts of debt, and possibly forcing Randall to cease making comics. This header was up until the Senate ultimately vetoed the bill 51-49, leading Randall to change the header to a 'thank you'.	Politics
From 2017-01-21 (during 1788: Barge until 2017-07-25 (during 1867: Physics Confession)	There are four new shirts in the xkcd store, along with posters and lots of other stuff!	This long-lasting header text promoted shirts and posters which could be found at the xkcd store at the time. It maintained the sales pitch of the previous header, only removing the image promoting the shirts.	Store Promotion
From 2016-11-28 (during 1765: Baby Post until 2017-01-21 (during 1788: Barge)	There are four new shirts in the xkcd store, along with posters and lots of other stuff!	This header promoted a Christmas sale on merchandise which was available in the xkcd store at the time. Despite the Christmas sale ending, the header remained until January 21st. The entire image was a link to the xkcd store.	Store Promotion
From 2016-04-23 (during 1671: Arcane Bullshit until 2016-11-28 (during 1764: XKCDE)	xkcd updates every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.	The standard header returned for a long stint between late April and late November of 2016.	Standard Header
From 2016-04-04 (during 1663: Garden until 2016-04-23 (during 1671: Arcane Bullshit)	Protip: If you don't like how your garden is growing, you can click to prune it. You can copy the URL to share your garden. From other browsers, it will be view-only.	This header text stayed throughout most of April. It gave tips for the April Fools' Day comic, which came out with the release of this header. The header text stayed until April 23rd, at which point it became a Comic-Specific Header.	Additional Information
From 2016-04-01 (during 1662: Jack and Jill until 2016-04-04 (during 1662: Jack and Jill	First Version: The xkcd April 1st comic is currently experiencing technical difficulties. Please stand by! Second Version: The xkcd April 1st comic is currently experiencing technical difficulties. Status update: Please stand by. Status update: This is fine. Everything is fine. Status update: Everything is on fire. Status update: Searching for calendar systems in which Saturday is April 1st. Third Version: The Friday xkcd comic is currently experiencing technical difficulties [Editor's note: Everything is on fire] and has been delayed until Sunday night.	Randall is making the best of a bad situation. Just before the release of that year's April Fools' Day comic, it experienced technical difficulties forcing Randall to delay its release. The three headers changed in rapid succession while 1662: Jack and Jill was still on the front page. Randall provides status updates on the comic, which quickly devolves into chaos before returning to a sense of false normalcy. This finalized header remained until the release of Garden on April 5th.	Comic Delay
From 2015-12-13 (during 1615: Red Car until 2016-04-01 (during 1662: Jack and Jill	Thing Explainer is available at: Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Indie Bound, Hudson	This header was the final header to promote Thing Explainer, which had been continuously promoted for over 10 months at that point. It provided links to places where the book could be purchased, just in time for the Christmas season.	Book promotion
From 2015-12-05 (during 1612: Colds until 2015-12-12 (during 1615: Red Car	Thing Explainer is available at: Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Indie Bound, Hudson I'll be in Naperville, IL and Toronto, ON (with Ryan North!) next week.	This header text served two purposes. It gave links to order Thing Explainer (which makes sense. It was December, after all.), and also promoted public appearances he would be doing with Ryan North in Naperville, Illinois and Toronto, Ontario. This header continued the trend of promoting Thing Explainer, which had been continually promoted since April.	Book promotion
From 2015-12-03 (during 1611: Baking Soda and Vinegar until 2015-12-05 (during 1612: Colds	Order: Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Indie Bound, Hudson	This header text contained a large image showcasing images from Thing Explainer, as well as multiple links for where to get the book. This image holds the odd record of being the largest image to ever be put into the header text (it is resized here for space). The image gets even weirder by being a link to Thing Explainer on Amazon, even though a link to buy the book on amazon was also provided beneath the image. The image was only provided for two days, before being replaced by a promotion for his public appearances with Ryan North.	Book promotion
From 2015-11-24 (during 1607: Supreme Court until 2015-12-02 (during 1611: Baking Soda and Vinegar	First Version: Order: Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Indie Bound, Hudson Second Version: I'm doing a live Q&A; at 2:30pm PT with The Martian author Andy Weir.	This header text served two purposes. For most of the time it was on the front page, it solely promoted Thing Explainer, and provided links where you could purchase it. However, it was shortly changed to advertise his public appearances with Andy Weir, with the link in that text taking you to his Facebook page. The image remained between the two texts, and it was a link to an old Blag post announcing Thing Explainer. However, the promotion of the public appearance only lasted one day, and as such is not important enough overall to be split into it's own section.	Book promotion
From 2015-10-22 (during 1593: Play-By-Play until 2015-11-24 (during 1608: Hoverboard	We've almost eradicated polio. For World Polio Day, I drew a comic about the eradication efforts. You can see it on Bill Gates's blog. _________________________________________________________________ My new book of complex diagrams and simple words comes out Nov 24th.	This header text promoted two things simultaneously, separated by a line. The top half of the header promoted a comic which Randall drew for Bill Gates' blog, celebrating the fact that Polio had almost been eradicated. The other header promoted Thing Explainer, a book which had just released that year. The top half of the header linked to the blog post that Randall's Polio comic had appeared in, while the bottom half linked to a Blag post announcing Thing Explainer.	Book promotion
From 2015-09-23 (during 1580: Travel Ghost until 2015-10-21 (during 1593: Play-By-Play	News: Announcing my Thing Explainer book trip. Come say hi! Other news: Announcing the Thing Explainer word checker tool!	This simplistic header promoted two things related to Thing Explainer, which had released earlier that year. It promoted the Thing Explainer book tour and a tool which can help you "Write Like Up Goer Five and Thing Explainer", also known as Simple Writer.	Book promotion
From 2015-09-06 (during 1573: Cyberintelligence until 2015-09-22 (during 1579: Tech Loops	Preorder: Amazon.co.uk, Waterstones	This header was very similar to previous headers promoting Thing Explainer. The only change which occurred between the last header and this header was the addition of a line of text containing links, where you could preorder the book.	Book promotion
From 2015-06-06 (during 1534: Beer until 2015-08-07 (during 1561: Water Phase Diagram	Preorder: Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Indie Bound, Hudson In other news, Space Weird Thing is delightful, and I feel surprisingly invested in @xkcdbracket's results.	This header text contained two sections, each talking about separate things. The upper portion of the header maintained the same promotion of Thing Explainer from the previous header, but added a couple new lines of text outlining 'other news' in his life. The first link goes to Space Weird Thing, a music video parody of David Bowie's Space Oddity music video using only the 1,000 most common words, inspired by 1133: Up Goer Five. Along with this, there was another link which went to @xkcdbracket on Twitter. This was a large bracket inspired by 1529: Bracket, in which a Twitter user simulated a full bracket with each entry from the comic. After this, it returned to simply promoting the book.	Book promotion
From 2015-05-15 (during 1525: Emojic 8 Ball until 2015-06-05 (during 1534: Beer	Preorder: Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Indie Bound, Hudson	This header text, like the one that came before it, promoted the fact that preorders were open for Thing Explainer, which had been announced with the previous header. The image linked to a Blag post titled New book: Thing Explainer. This header remained for just under a month before other news was added.	Book promotion
2015-05-14 (during 1524: Dimensions	New book: Thing Explainer!	This header text announced Thing Explainer, a book which uses only the 1,000 most common English words at the time to explain complicated things such as the Curiosity Rover and Washing machines. When the next comic released, the header text turned to promoting the book, including providing links where you could preorder it.	Book promotion
From 2015-02-11 (during 1485: Friendship until 2015-05-12 (during 1523: Microdrones	xkcd updates every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.	The standard header text returned for about three months, between his promotion of xkcd-themed Valentine's Day cards and the announcement of Thing Explainer	Standard Header
From 2015-02-04 (during 1482: NowPlaying until 2015-02-10 (during 1484: Apollo Speeches		This header was the last of the headers to promote Valentine's Day that year. It promoted the Valentine's Day cards which Randall had collaborated with other webcomic artists to create, and were first announced the month before. The promotion lasted until February 10th, at which point it was nearly impossible to ship cards out to customers by Valentine's Day.	Store Promotion
From 2015-02-02 (during 1481: API until 2015-02-03 (during 1481: API	Today is the last day to order the limited-run binary heart shirt!	This header solely promoted the binary heart shirt, which was in the xkcd store at the time, just before that year's Valentine's Day. The header remained up until the day after the shirts were no longer available to order.	Store Promotion
From 2015-01-29 (during 1479: Troubleshooting until 2015-02-01 (during 1480: Super Bowl		This header promoted both special store products that Randall had created for that year's Valentine's Day. He had partnered with other artists to create custom Valentine Cards, and had created a shirt which contained a heart made out of binary. This header lasted for only a few days until the header changed to promoting the last day you could order the shirts. The image promoting the shirt was a link to a https://web.archive.org/web/20150125080756/https://teespring.com/xkcdbinaryheart page] where you could purchase it.	Store Promotion
From 2015-01-27 (during 1478: P-Values until 2015-01-28 (during 1479: Troubleshooting	I've teamed up with three other webcomic artists to make a set of science-themed Valentine's Day cards!	This short-lived header announced the fact that Randall had collaborated with 'other webcomic artists' to create Valentine's cards which could be purchased in the shop at the time. The link in the text took you to the card's page on the xkcd store.	Store Promotion
From 2015-01-24 (during 1477: Star Wars until 2015-01-26 (during 1478: P-Values	For Valentine's Day, you can get a binary heart shirt (from comic #99!) in a limited run on TeeSpring	This header text was the first of many headers to promote the binary heart shirt which Randall released for that year's Valentine's Day. Instead of being on the xkcd store like one may assume, he actually used Teespring, a company that allows users to create and sell custom products, as the sales platform.	Store Promotion
From 2014-12-22 (during 1463: Altitude until 2015-01-23 (during 1476: Ceres	You can get xkcd shirts, prints, and posters in the store!	This header, like many others at the time, promoted the xkcd store, which contained various xkcd-themed merchandise. The link in the text was a link to the store.	Store Promotion
From 2014-12-17 (during 1461: Payloads until 2014-12-18 (during 1461: Payloads and from 2014-12-19 (during 1462: Blind Trials until 2014-12-21 (during 1462: Blind Trials		This header served two distinct stints as a header, in between an Easter egg header that Randall had released in between them. This header consisted of just one image, promoting the xkcd store while also reminding readers that that Friday was the last day things could be shipped by the 25th. The entire image was a link to the xkcd store, not just the blue text in the image.	Store Promotion
From 2014-12-18 (during 1461: Payloads until 2014-12-19 (during 1461: Payloads		This header was a more humorous version of the header which it both preceded and succeeded, possibly meant as an Easter Egg for those who happened to visit the site at the time when it was up. It lasted only for a few hours, meaning that not many actually got to see it while it was up. It reminded the reader that, if they wished to get Christmas presents from the xkcd store, they needed to order them by that Friday in order for them to be shipped in time.	Store Promotion
From 2014-12-03 (during 1455: Trolley Problem until 2014-12-16 (during 1460: SMFW		This header promoted the store during the Christmas season, with a touch of humor added in. The bobcat is a reference to 325: A-Minus-Minus. The image was a link to the xkcd store	Store Promotion
(during 1453: fMRI} until 2014-12-02 (during 1454: Done	Thank you for helping my friend Emily. It means so much.	Just two days after Randall posted a header text to raise money for Emily's cancer treatment, the goal was met and this header replaced the previous one for three days. This means that the thanks for meeting the goal was up for more time than the header notifying readers of the goal itself.	Fundraiser
(during 1452: Jurassic World} until 2014-11-28 (during 1453: fMRI	Hey all. My friend Emily—the economist who helped me with my money chart—has been fighting cancer. She's having a rough time and could use some help. Thank you.	This header text was meant to raise money in order to help Randall's friend Emily fight cancer. The text linked to a GoFundMe page for Emily. Oddly, Emily did not get a permanent header as Becky did on the Seven Years comic.	Fundraiser
(during 1428: Move Fast and Break Things} until 2014-11-25 (during 1451: Background Screens		This header consisted of an image promoting the fact that What If? Had become a New York Times bestseller, while also promoting the book at the same time. The header remained up for over a month, only being interrupted by Emily's cancer diagnosis. The image was a link to the book's dedicated page on xkcd.	Book promotion
(during 1416: Pixels} until 2014-09-01 (during 1451: Background Screens		This header text promoted the fact that What If?, which had released the day before this header came out, was available to order. The entire image was a link to the book's dedicated page on xkcd.	Book promotion
(during 1415: Ballooning} until 2014-09-03 (during 1416: Pixels		This header kept the trend of simple images promoting What If?, with this one promoting the fact that the book was released that day. As this promoted only the release day, it was replaced by a more general promotion the day after. The entire image was a link to the book's dedicated page on xkcd.	Book promotion
(during 1398: Snake Facts} until 2014-09-01 (during 1415: Ballooning		This header text promoted the fact that Randall was going on a book tour for What If?, which was released that September. The image, like many others promoting the book, was a simple depiction of a celebrating Cueball with text to its right. The text in the image promoted the book, and asked the viewer to click on an apparent link in order to see a list of stops for the tour. However, by Randall's own admission, the entire image (not just the apparent link) was a link, as he had not figured out HTML imagemaps. The image was a link to a Blag post announcing the book tour and outlining a list of stops.	Book promotion
(during 1341: Types of Editors} until 2014-07-22 (during 1397: Luke		This header text was the first of many to promote What If?. This first one announced the fact that Randall was publishing a book cataloging entries from his What If? blog, which had been running continuously for multiple years at that point. The image was a link to a Blag post announcing the book.	Book promotion
From 2014-01-09 (during 1314: Photos until 2014-03-12 (during 1340: Unique Date	xkcd updates every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.		Standard Header
From 2013-12-21 (during 1306: Sigil Cycle until 2014-01-08 (during 1314: Photos	The deadline for guaranteed Christmas shipping has passed, but if you order something from the xkcd store, we'll get it to you as fast as possible!	This header text came out just four days before Christmas, when Randall would be unable to ship items ordered from the xkcd store by Christmas. He also reminds readers that they'd ship ASAP, but they wouldn't arrive by the 25th.	Store Promotion
From 2013-12-06 (during 1300: Galilean Moons until 2013-12-20 (during 1305: Undocumented Feature	(no header text)	For a couple weeks during early December of 2013, no header came to replace the previous Exoplanet Poster header. It is possible that there was an error with the intended header text, or that Randall simply forgot to put in a new one. This stopped when the xkcd store Christmas shipping deadline passed, and the header changed to let readers know of this fact.	No Header
From 2013-12-02 (during 1298: Exoplanet Neighborhood until 2013-12-06 (during 1300: Galilean Moons	You can get the Exoplanet Neighborhood comic as a poster!	Just after Exoplanet Neighborhoods came out, Randall updated the header to mention that you could get the comic as a poster in the store. This header lasted only four days, until the header turned empty.	Store Promotion
From 2013-04-09 (during 1196: Subways until 2013-12-01 (during 1297: Oort Cloud	You can get the Subways comic as a poster!	This header, which lasted for almost exactly 100 Comics, promoted the fact that you could get 1196: Subways as a poster in the xkcd store. The promotion lasted until early December, when it was replaced with a different store promotion for another comic, oddly promoting a comic poster as well.	Store Promotion
From 2012-11-26 (during 1138: Heatmap) until 2013-03-11 (during 1183: Rose Petals, from 2013-03-20 (during 1188: Bonding until 2013-04-01 (during 1193: Externalities, and from 2013-04-03 (during 1194: Stratigraphic Record until 2013-04-08 (during 1196: Subways		This header holds a record for the most distinct times it appeared as the header text, appearing three separate times. The content of the header was an image showing a torn piece of paper, with the tear revealing the words 'xkcd store' below it. Clicking on the image while it was up took you to the xkcd store, which featured various xkcd-themed merchandise.	Store Promotion
2013-04-02 (during 1193: Externalities)	There were some surprise upsets in the Hash Breaking!	This header documented the challenge given to multiple prestigious colleges in 1193: Externalities. Randall had created a challenge in which multiple Alma Maters were tasked to break a 1024-bit Skein hash in the shortest time possible, with the college that had the least bits wrong at the end of the challenge winning. This header gave an update, stating that KIT (an Indian engineering college) in first place, with Colombia in second. He provided a link to the xkcd page where the results were being documented in real time. In the end, Carnegie Mellon University won, with 384 bits wrong of 1024.
From 2013-03-15 (during 1186: Bumblebees until 2013-03-18 (during 1187: Aspect Ratio	(no header text)	After the previous header letting people know that 1185: Ineffective Sorts was delayed, no header came to replace it for 3 days. This is one of only three times this has happened in xkcd's history	No Header
From 2013-03-13 (during 1184: Circumference Formula until 2013-03-13 (during 1185: Ineffective Sorts	The comic will be delayed until late morning EDT.	This simple header, which was up for less than a day, let readers know that the next comic (1185: Ineffective Sorts) was temporarily delayed. The delayed comic was quickly released and the header was replaced, oddly, with nothing.	Comic Delay
From 2012-10-24 (during 1124: Law of Drama until 2012-11-26 (during 1138: Heatmap	xkcd updates every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.		Standard Header
From 2012-10-17 (during 1122: Electoral Precedent until 2012-10-23 (during 1124: Law of Drama	New What-If article: What if lightning struck while you were ...	This header was the last header to promote the release of a specific entry to the What If? blog. This entry acted like a short-answer section, but only for lightning-related questions. This promotion lasted for only a few days before it was replaced with the standard header. The link in the article took you to the blog entry.	What If? Promotion
From 2012-10-10 (during 1118: Microsoft until 2012-10-16 (during 1121: Identity	New What-If article: {{Header text|What if you set off a nuclear bomb in the Mariana Trench?.	This header text promotes the first short-answer entry of the What If? blog. It was up for a week, while it was the most recent blog entry. After that, it was replaced by a promotion for the next blog entry	What If? Promotion
From 2012-09-26 (during 1113: Killed in Action until 2012-10-01 (during 1115: Sky	New What-If article: If everyone aimed a laser pointer at the Moon at once, would it change color?	This header text, like many others around this time, promoted the latest entry to the What If? blog, this one being Laser Pointer.	What If? Promotion
From 2012-09-18 (during 1109: Refrigerator until 2012-09-25 (during 1112: Think Logically	what-if.xkcd.com: What if all of a storm's water fell in a single raindrop?.	This header promoted the latest entry into the What If? blog, this one being Raindrop. It stayed up until the next blog entry was released.	What If? Promotion
From 2013-09-11 (during 1106: ADD until 2013-09-17 (during 1109: Refrigerator	New what-if.xkcd.com article: Droppings	This time, the header text promoted the new What If? blog entry, this time titled Droppings. This header lasted until the next entry, Raindrop.	What If? Promotion
From 2013-09-05 (during 1103: Nine until 2013-09-10 (during 1105: License Plate	New what-if.xkcd.com article: What if we slid the Earth's surface around by 90 degrees?	This header was part of a long series of headers at the time, coming out each week with each new What If? blog entry. This one promoted Cassini.	What If? Promotion
From 2013-08-30 (during 1101: Sketchiness until 2013-09-03 (during 1103: Nine	New what-if.xkcd.com article: What if everyone had a randomly-chosen soul mate?	This header text was part of a series of headers promoting new entries to the What If? blog every week. For this week, it promoted Soul Mates	What If? Promotion
From 2013-08-22 (during 1098: Star Ratings until 2013-08-28 (during 1100: Vows	New What-If article: What if everyone got together and jumped {{Header text|{{{1|at the same time, but then realized nobody brought food?	This header text was part of a series of headers which came out every week, each promoting the latest entry into the What If? blog. This week, the header promoted Everybody Jump.	What If? Promotion
From 2013-08-17 (during 1096: Clinically Studied Ingredient until 2013-08-21 (during 1097: A Hypochondriac's Nightmare	what-if.xkcd.com This week: Is there enough energy to move all of humanity off-planet?	This header text was part of a series of headers which came out every week, each promoting the latest entry into the What If? blog. This week, the header promoted Everybody Out. This header, however, is unique from the others promoting the blog, as this is the last header to promote the website directly.	What If? Promotion
From 2013-08-09 (during 1092: Michael Phelps until 2013-08-14 (during 1094: Interview		This header text was part of a series of headers which came out every week, each promoting the latest entry into the What If? blog. However, for most of the week Glass Half Empty was out, Randall used an image to promote the new entry rather than the traditional text. This is one of only two headers promoting the blog to use this format.	What If? Promotion
2013-08-07 (during 1091: Curiosity	New: what-if.xkcd.com This week: What if a glass were actually half-empty?	This header text was part of a series of headers which came out every week, each promoting the latest entry into the What If? blog. However, this header is unique, as it only appeared for a single day before Randall replaced it with an image promoting the same article. This header text promoted Glass Half Empty.	What If? Promotion
From 2013-08-02 (during 1089: Internal Monologue until 2013-08-05 (during 1090: Formal Languages	New: what-if.xkcd.com This week: How long would humans last in a robot apocalypse?	This header text was part of a series of headers which came out every week, each promoting the latest entry into the What If? blog. For this week, the header promoted Robot Apocalypse.	What If? Promotion
From 2013-07-25 (during 1086: Eyelash Wish Log until 2013-07-30 (during 1088: Five Years	New: what-if.xkcd.com This week: What if you had a mole (unit) of moles (animals)?	This header text was part of a series of headers which came out every week, each promoting the latest entry into the What If? blog. For this week, the header promoted A Mole of Moles, the fourth What If? blog entry.	What If? Promotion
From 2013-07-18 (during 1083: Writing Styles until 2013-07-23 (during 1085: ContextBot		This header was part of a series of headers which came out every week, each promoting the latest entry into the What If? blog. During the week where Yoda was the most recent post, Randall decided to promote the new entry via an image rather than the typical text. This is one of only two headers promoting the blog to use an image rather than text.	What If? Promotion
From 2012-07-10 (during 1078: Knights until 2012-07-14 (during 1081: Argument Victory	First version: New site: what-if.xkcd.com, where I abuse science to answer hypothetical questions. I'll answer a new question every Tuesday. Second version: New: what-if.xkcd.com: abusing science to answer hypothetical questions. I'll answer a new reader question every Tuesday.	This header text came in two versions, each promoting the new What If? blog at what-if.xkcd.com. The first version was only up for a day, and, oddly, appeared on each comic except for the front page. The website given in the text wasn't a link, which is presumably why Randall quickly changed the header into the second version. The second version of the text was the main version, and was up for a few days. This header does not have many changes from the previous header, only adding the link where the website was and separating the text into two lines. The website now linked to the first ever What If? blog entry, Relativistic Baseball. For a time, this text also did not appear on the front page as it came out during 1079: United Shapes, which has its own unique header text. Later, this text was incorporated into this comic's text, but it was never changed back. This means, if you go to the comic today, it still contains the second version of this header.	What If? Promotion
From 2012-04-09 (during 1040: Lakes and Oceans until 2012-07-09 (during 1078: Knights	xkcd updates every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. You can get prints, posters, and t-shirts in the store.	This simple header text combined the standard header text and the standard store promotion in one header. The link in the bottom row went to to the xkcd store, which contained various xkcd-themed merchandise.	Store Promotion
From 2012-04-05 (during 1038: Fountain until 2012-04-08 (during 1039: RuBisCO	xkcd updates every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.	A return to the standard header text, if only for a few days before the store promotion was added.	Standard Header
From 2012-03-28 (during 1035: Cadbury Eggs until 2012-04-03 (during 1036: Reviews	I'm visiting Newport News, VA next week, where I'll be speaking at CNU, my old school. If you want to come, reserve a seat here!	This promotion linked to a trip Randall was doing to Newport News, Virginia, where he would be giving a talk at his old school, Christopher Newport University. The first link in the text went to a Blag post announcing his trip, while the second link took you to a website where you could purchase tickets (the link here goes to an archived version, as the link is no longer working).	Public Appearance
From 2012-03-12 (during 1028: Communication until 2012-03-26 (during 1033: Formal Logic	New: holistic.xkcd.com, the least useful web navigation tool ever.}}}	This header text promoted a web navigation tool which Randall had developed, called the xkcd Holistic Browser. As the name implies, when you typed a web address, you would instead be taken to a web address someone else had entered. For a time, this header text overlapped with 1031: s/keyboard/leopard/, which has its own unique header text.	Other promotion

MIND THE GAP-7 years-remember only to only archive the text in the TOP CENTER of the page, NOT the top left.

2008-12-18 - Signed prints

• 2008-12-18 (during Flow Charts)
• The text:
  

The xkcd store now has signed prints.

• Ended 2009-03-11 (during Not Enough Work

2008-12-16 - Running smoothly

• 2008-12-16 (during Marshmallow Gun
• The ‘Tuesday’ in question was, in fact, this day!
• The text:
  

The xkcd store (now with signed prints!) is running smoothly,
so we’ve extended the US Christmas order deadline to Tuesday.

• One archive, but no circa needed.

2008-12-02 - New merchandise + christmas deadline

• 2008-12-02 (during Sleet)
• The text:
  

File:2008 store banner.png
New merchandise in the store! Order before the 12th to ensure
US delivery before the 25th.

• Last archived version 2008-12-11 (during No One Must Know). Let’s add a ‘circa’, just to be safe

2008-10-02 - Standard+New Merchandise

• 2008-10-02 (during Fiction Rule of Thumb)
• The text:
  

File:2008 store banner.png
New merchandise in the store! XKCD updates every Monday,
Wednesday, and Friday.

• Last archived version 2008-11-25 (during Drapes)
• Add the circa, long break between the ‘chives.

2008-08-05 - New Merchandise.. With image!

• 2008-08-05 (during Regrets)
• The text:
  

File:2008 store banner.png
New merchandise in the store! New shirt and skirt now shipping.

• Last archived version 2008-09-22 (during Tones)
• Next archive was the 2nd…

2008-07-28 - Shirt and skirt

• 2008-07-28 (during Hats)
• The text:
  

New shirt and skirt in the store.

• One archive…… long gap…. sigh….

2008-06-17 - Standard header

• 2008-06-17 (during SUV)
• May have happened earlier, but both the archives from the month of May are broken
• The text:
  

XKCD updates every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.

• Last archived version 2008-07-03 (during Macgyver Gets Lazy)

2008-04-09 - The Store strikes back 2

• 2008-04-09 (during Overqualified)
• The text:
  

The store is back.

• Last archived version 2008-04-30 (during The Man Who Fell Sideways)

2008-03-21 - The Store strikes back

• 2008-03-21 (during Travelling Salesman Problem)
• Yes, it says ‘is updated’ here, not ‘updates’
• The text:
  

XKCD is updated every monday, wednesday, and friday.
The store is back.

• One archive, next one was april 1st, which will be skipped, because it’s just an april fools joke.

2008-02-18 - Standard + Aliens and Laser elevators

• 2008-02-18 (during How it Works)
• The text:
  

XKCD updates every monday, wednesday, and friday.
Blag: Aliens and laser elevators.

• One archive. One issue: THE ARCHIVE GAP IS OVER A MONTH!!!! THE NEXT WAS MARCH 21ST!!!!

2008-01-16 - Standard header

• 2008-01-16 (during Compiler Complaint)
• and now it’s back to the first variant, with ‘xkcd’ being in ALL CAPS
• The text:
  

XKCD updates every monday, wednesday, and friday.

• Last archived version 2008-02-02 (during Real Programmers)
• aaaand we’re back to long breaks in the archives. Next archive was the 18th.

2007-12-12 - Store promo with text

• 2007-12-12 (during Couple)
• Despite the fact that the name of the file is ‘christmas_imglink’, this image stayed until January 13th of the following year.
• The text:
  

File:2007 store promo header.png
xkcd store

• Ended 2008-01-13 (during Dangers)

2007-11-25 - Image store promo

• 2007-11-25 (during Close to You)
• The text:
  

• Ended 2007-12-09 (during Startling)

2007-11-17 - Shirt and Hoodie

• 2007-11-17 (during 1337: Part 5)
• The text:
  

New shirt and hoodie for sale in the store!

• Ended 2007-11-23 (during Close to You)

2007-11-12 - Previous plus 1337 series notice

• 2007-11-12 (during 1337: Part 1)
• The text:
  

New shirt and hoodie for sale in the store! There will be five comics this week, one each weekday!

• Last archive 2007-11-16 (during 1337: Part 4)

2007-10-27 - Preorder shirt and hoodie

• 2007-10-27 (during Wasteland)
• The text:
  

New shirt and hoodie for preorder in the store!

• Ended 2007-11-11 (during Fight)

2007-10-24 - For the love of god randall remember your headers (nothing)

• 2007-10-24 (during Getting Out of Hand)
• Randall forgor again!
• One archive, 3-day gap, we can say circa MAYBE, but it seems fine.

2007-10-05 - The return of the standard header

• 2007-10-05 (during A-Minus-Minus)
• Remember to figure out the last time the standard header was up, because it had been a while at this point
• The text also updated so that the ‘xkcd’ was all-lowercase rather than all-caps
• The text:
  

xkcd updates every monday, wednesday, and friday

• Last day 2007-10-23 (during Gyroscopes)

2007-10-02 - NOTHING AGAIN

• 2007-10-02 (during Tapping)
• Randall once again fully forgor.
• Ended 2007-10-04 (during Tapping

2007-10-02 - Forums3

• 2007-10-02 (during Ballmer Peak)
• The text:
  

You can use forums3.xkcd.com until DNS
updates.

• Last archive 2007-10-03 (again, during Ballmer Peak), but OMG THIS IS A GUARANTEED LAST DAY FINALLY!!!!!!!!!

2007-09-17 - Nothing once again

• 2007-09-17 (during That Lovin' Feelin')
• No text
• Last archive 2007-09-26, but only a 2-day gap, so that’s something! This was during Thighs

At this point, my archives began to break down. This is when it became much more tedious. Coincidentially, this is when archives became much more common, meaning that the pain didn’t stop after all.

2007-08-09 - Reality-modifying stickers

• 2007-08-09 (during Facebook)
• The text:
  

Reality-modifying stickers and a new shirt in the store!

• Last archived version 2007-09-04. Next archive? The 17th!

2007-06-10 - Nothing again

• 2007-06-10 (during With Apologies to The Who)
• The text:
  

• Last archived version 2007-07-14 (during Alone) Gap is between July 14th and AUGUST NINTH

2007-06-02 - Powers of 1(0)

• 2007-06-02 (during Powers of One)
• The text:
  

Background:Powers of Ten on Wikipedia

• One archive, 8-day gap, when will this end…

2007-05-24 - Communities map poster

• 2007-05-24 (during Choices: Part 4)
• The text:
  

The Online Communities Map poster is now shipping.
This week, XKCD updates every weekday.

• One archive, 9-day gap

2007-05-19 - Nothing once again

• 2007-05-19 (during Certainty)
• The text:
  

• One archive, 5-day gap… sigh…. How do we even categorize these? I haven’t thought about that…

2007-05-06 - Preorder 256 posters

• 2007-05-06 (during Code Talkers
• The text:
  

You can preorder posters of the online communities map in the store

• This one line was so long that you couldn’t see the end of the word ‘store’
• Last archived version 2007-05-14 (during Regarding Mussolini). 5-day gap.

2007-05-03 - 2^8th comic

• 2007-05-03 (during Online Communities)
• The text:
  

Hooray, the 2^8th comic!
By popular demand: preorder a poster of this map!

• Please note that we have no clue if there was any actual demand for a poster
• One archive, but no ‘unknown’ needed

2007-03-24 - Back to standard text

• 2007-03-24 (during Blagofaire)
• The text:
  

XKCD updates every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday

• Last archived version 2007-04-06. The next archive after this is from MAY THIRD.

2007-03-21 - Good shirts

• 2007-03-21 (during Pet Peeve #114)
• The text:
  

There are some good shirts in the store.

• One archive, but only a three-day gap. No ‘unknown’ needed

2007-03-16 - Sense of Security Blag

• 2007-03-16 (during Collecting Double-Takes
• The text:
  

There are some good shirts in the store.
Lost: comic originals, sense of security. (blag post)

• One archive, 5-day gap…. ‘’sigh’’

2007-03-06 - Map of the internet – That you can buy!

• 2007-03-06 (during Cat Proximity)
• The phrases ‘new:’ are both in red
• The text:
  

New: Map of the Internet poster print
New: Two new shirts in the store

• Ended 2007-03-14 (during Escape Artist) (yes, I said ended, not ‘last archived version’)

2007-02-12 - Shirt restock

• 2007-02-12 (during Small Talk)
• The text:
  

XKCD updates every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.
T-shirts are restocked (for now) and shipping promptly!

• Last archived version was 2007-02-27. Sadly, a seven-day archive gap means we’re back to suffering.

2007-02-10 - Standard Header

• 2007-02-10 (during Random Number)
• The text:
  

XKCD updates every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday

• Only one archive, but THE GAP IS ONLY TWO DAYS!!!!! WOOOOOOO!!!!!

2007-02-02 - New blag post

• 2007-02-02 (during e to the pi Minus pi)
• The text:
  

New blag post:
Washington’s Farewell Address in everyday speech.

• Last archived version was 2007-02-04 (during Nintendo Surgeon). A six-day archive gap means we once again can’t have any fun.

2007-01-24 - Standard Header

• 2007-01-24 (during The Problem with Wikipedia)
• The text:
  

XKCD updates every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday

• Just one archive once again! And, once again, a long archive gap means we can’t have any fun

2007-01-19 - He zorbed too hard :(

• 2007-01-19 (during Brain)
• ZORB is a company offering experiences where you roll downhill in human-sized available Hampster balls. Apparently, he's attempting to acquire one of the balls for himself, and failing.
• The text:
  

I tried writing to zorb but I can’t convince them to send me one.

• Only one archive, lasted anywhere from 1-8 days

2006-12-31 - Standard Header

• 2006-12-31 (during Hallucinations)
• The standard header’s first appearance in its current form
• The text:
  

XKCD updates every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday

• Last archive is 2007-01-14 (during Kayak). This is only an approximation, as there’s a 5-day archive gap.

2006-12-14 - Xmas Orders closed

• 2006-12-14 (during Command Line Fu)
• The text:
  

Christmas orders are closed! They will finish shipping shortly!
TheFairest - TheFunniest - TheCutest

• OH MY GOD THERE IS A 2.5 WEEK GAP

2006-12-09 - Deadline 12/13

• 2006-12-09 (during Penises)
• The first line is in red, except for the link, which is the normal color. The second line is the normal color.
• The text:
  

The deadline for Christmas orders is December 13th.
Supplies are limited; shirts are not guaranteed to stay in stock

• Only one archive once again! A 5-day gap in the archives mean we don’t know when it ended…or began.

2006-12-05 - Useless shirt

• 2006-12-05 (during Working for Google)
• The second line of text is in red, except for the period at the end of the sentence.
• The text:
  

New ‘Useless’ shirt available in the store! (Supplies limited)
The deadline for Christmas orders is December 13th.

• Actually, first time in a while where we really can just include that one archive, maybe with a ‘circa’ attached tho

2006-11-29 - Nothing again

• 2007-11-29 (during Exercise)
• The text:
  

• Unknown end date (6-day gap), lasted only one archive

2006-11-18 - Need submitters

• 2006-11-18 (during Wikifriends)
• The text:
  

TheFairest.info - TheFunniest.info - Have voters, need submitters.
(Content is user-submitted and may occasionally not be work-safe.)

• End date unknown (11-day archive gap). lasted only one archive.

2006-11-09 - New toys

• 2006-11-09 (during Interblag
• The text
  

New toys: TheFairest.info - TheFunniest.info

• End date unknown again, 8-day gap in archives

2006-10-13 - Nothing

• 2006-10-13 (during Turn Back)
• The text:
  

• Both start and end date unknown, as there is a 2-3-week gap between archives. One archive

2006-09-01 - IRC channel

• 2006-09-01 (during Mario)
• The website at the end of the text isn’t a link, but the words ‘xkcd irc channel’ are.
• The text:
  

Store has 2XL and 3XL shirts until preorder period ends.
NEWS: xkcd irc channel (#xkcd on irc.foonetic.net)

• We have literally no clue about anything between September 1st and October 13th. And the one on October 13th is just nothing! Also, one archive

2006-08-29 - BEEG shirts

• 2006-08-29 (during Sandwich
• The word ‘news’ is still in all caps, but has lost its boldness.
• The text:
  

Two t-shirts in the store! One sweet, one bitchin’.
NEWS: Store has 2XL and 3XL shirts until preorder period ends.

• Just one archive, but at least we’re only limited to a 3-day window. Don’t include ‘until unknown’ here

2006-08-19 - Parody Week Dinosaur

• 2006-08-19 (during Parody Week: Dinosaur Comics)
• Sadly, this is the only archive from the entirety of parody week. We can only assume that each comic from Parody Week had a very similar header to this, but they are all lost media now.
• The text:
  

Saturday is the last day to vote in the date contest!
Dinosaur Comics tribute! Regular comics return Monday.

• Only one archive. Because the header is specific to this comic (but not comic-specific - it was definitely global), we can probably say that this header left as the global header when the next comic came out.

2006-08-12 - Next Week Parody Week

• 2006-08-12 (during Delicious)
• The word ‘NEWS’ is formatted the same as last time
• The text:
  

‘‘NEWS:‘‘ Next week is Parody Week! New comic every weekday!

• Ended sometime around 2006-08-13 (during Delicious)

2006-08-10 - Awesome date project

• 2006-08-10 (during I Have Owned Two Electric Skateboards)
• The word ‘NEWS’ is in BOLD and ALL CAPS, but isn’t thicc like last time.
• The text:
  

‘‘NEWS:‘‘ Signed prints of many comics are available!
Don’t forget to help vote in the awesome date project!

• Only one archive, and this time only two days between archives. We can only include the archive this time, not the ‘until unknown’

2006-07-21 - BestThing.info

• 2006-07-21 (during Fans)
• ’SISTER PROJECT’ is bold and in ALL CAPS (it’s also very thicc, which is odd. Same thickness as header link.)
• The text:
  

Comic updates every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.
SISTER PROJECT: BestThing.info - decide What’s Best!

• Only one archive, but the end date is unknown as there are ~3 weeks between headers. End with ‘until Unknown’

2006-07-20 - Video unearthed

• 2006-07-20 (during Julia Stiles)
• News is once again in big and bold
• The text:
  • NEWS: I've unearthed the video referenced in today's comic!
  • Check the news section of the forums to watch it.
• Only one archive (this was a time of quick, very short-lived headers)

2006-07-14 - Sunday last day

• 2006-07-14 (during dPain over dt)
• the word 'news' is, again, big and bold.
• The text:
  • NEWS: Sunday is the last day to order t-shirts]!
• only one archive once again

2006-07-10 - One week for tees

• 2006-07-10 (during Red Spiders Cometh)
• the word 'news' is Big n' Bold
• The text:
  • NEWS: One week left to order t-shirts!
• Only one archive

2006-07-05 - Comic 23 Tee

• 2006-07-05
• Top red line is bold
• The text:
  • Get a t-shirt based on comic #23 in the store!
• Ended 2006-07-06 (during Blogofractal)

2006-06-16 - DYK forums

• 2006-06-16 (during Meerkat)
• The same format as the previous one. two lines of red text
• The text:
  • T-shirts shipped out Monday morning!
  • Did you know we have active forums?
• Again, only this archive

2006-06-12 - Packaged T-shirts

• 2006-06-12 (during Computational Linguists)
• Text is in red sans-serif
• First time t-shirts are mentioned, but the two months in between archives probably contained something forever lost to time.
• The text:
  • T-shirts are packaged and shipping first thing Monday!
• Only this one archive had this header

2006-04-08 - nothin'

• 2005-04-08 (during Digital Rights Management)
• Now it's in WingDings!
• The text:
• Ended 2006-04-28 (during 95: The Sierpinski Penis Game)

2005-12-12 - Composite face images

• 2005-12-12
• MORE TNR!
• The text:
  • Kite Flying - Aerial Photography]
  • The Sub Project - On and off through high school I worked on ROVs.
  • Blue Eyes - The hardest logic puzzle in the world
  • I run the American Society for the Conservation of Gravity
  • I also create composite images of faces (available on commission)
• Ended 2006-02-07 (during Super Bowl)

2005-11-26 - ASCG

• 2005-11-26 (during Old Notebook)
• More TNR
• The text:
  • Robowar is back, with a good Windows port
  • Kite Flying - Aerial Photography]
  • CNU Wireless Map - Informal survey of illegal CNU wireless networks
  • The Sub Project - On and off through high school I worked on ROVs.
  • Blue Eyes - The hardest logic puzzle in the world
  • I also run the American Society for the Conservation of Gravity
• Only up one archive

|- |From c.2005-10-18
(during 21: Kepler
until c.2005-11-18
(during 31: Barrel - Part 5 |Robowar is back, with a good Windows port

Kite Flying - Aerial Photography]

CNU Wireless Map - Informal survey of illegal CNU wireless networks

The Sub Project - On and off through high school I worked on ROVs.

Blue Eyes - The hardest logic puzzle in the world

Tree Prank - My roommate and I are kind of awful.

|This header text was a very short bio of Randall. It detailed multiple different things going on in his life.

RoboWar is a strategy-based video game where one must code a virtual robot to eliminate all others and be the last one standing. The game hosted regular competitions until mid-2003, at which point the player base began to die out. Evidently, RoboWar made a temporary return in 2005, which Randall was celebrating. He also provided a link to the official version of the game which supported Windows.

Blue Eyes is a logic puzzle uploaded to xkcd c.2004. As it is a subpage of xkcd.com, he is advertising the puzzle to his audience.

2005-10-18 - Basic Bio

• 2005-10-18 (during Kepler)
• This was in the Times New Roman font, idk why.
• The text:
  • Robowar is back, with a good Windows port

• • Kite Flying - Aerial Photography]

• • CNU Wireless Map - Informal survey of illegal CNU wireless networks

• • The Sub Project - On and off through high school I worked on ROVs.

• • Blue Eyes - The hardest logic puzzle in the world

• • Tree Prank - My roommate and I are kind of awful.

• Ended 2005-11-18 (During Barrel - Part 5)

What If? chapters

Bouncy Balls -

Around 3,000,000 balls. Death would occur and you would be charged with manslaughter or murder.

Comic 997

Image	Explanation
File:997 Don't Shoot.png	Example
File:997 Don't Vote.png	Example
File:997 Don't Judge.png	Example

Volume 0 table

Page Number	Ciphertext	Code used	Decoded text	Explanation
1	CNEG BAR BS RVTUG VA URK: RR AVAR RVTUG SVIR BAR BAR RVTUG.	A Caesar cipher with a 13-character shift	PART ONE OF EIGHT IN HEX: EE NINE EIGHT FIVE ONE ONE EIGHT.	This was the first piece of code in the entire book, and was meant to alert readers that there was a message in hexadecimal, separated and encoded throughout the book meant to be found and decoded.
11	I0TAE/KE 20IBSWIY ODE65TN8 CO25.RAP

explain xkcd:List of Commands

Command	Use	Example	Purpose
<b>	Used to format text to be bold.	'<b>This text is bold!</b>' renders as: This text is bold!	Formatting
<i>	Used to format text to be italicized. Please note that autocorrect may attempt to capitalize the I. Remember to undo this, as it prevents the command from functioning	'<i>This text is italicized!</i>' renders as: This text is italicized!	Formatting